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Event Detail

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Opting Out among Women with Elite Education: Evidence, Causes, and Societal Consequences

Joni Hersch, Professor of Law and Economics, Vanderbilt
University

Hersch’s research shows that female graduates of elite institutions
have lower labor market involvement than their counterparts from
less selective institutions, with the gap most pronounced among
those with children, and especially among mothers with an MBA. This
talk will provide recent evidence on opting out among women with
elite education and examine the role of differences in preferences
as well as economic factors in explaining the greater tendency of
elite graduates to have lower labor market activity. We will also
address societal consequences of reduced labor market activity
among women graduates of elite institutions on prospects for women
to advance through the professions, whether workplace inflexibility
is an important barrier to women’s professional advancement, and
implications for intergenerational equity.